{"id":46435,"date":"2024-05-30T14:27:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T19:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=46435"},"modified":"2024-05-30T14:36:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T19:36:37","slug":"stewart-haas-racing-planning-to-exit-nascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/30\/stewart-haas-racing-planning-to-exit-nascar\/","title":{"rendered":"Stewart-Haas Racing planning to exit NASCAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

Stewart Haas-Racing is planning a NASCAR-style estate sale.<\/p>\n

SHR, the Kannapolis, N.C.-based organization fronted by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, shocked the motorsports community earlier this week by confirming plans to shutter its Ford-backed NASCAR operation at the end of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Team owner Gene Haas (R) officially inducts Tony Stewart into the NASCAR Hall of Fame during the 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Charlotte Convention Center on January 31, 2020 in Charlotte, North Car. Photo credit: Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

A three-time Cup Series champion, Stewart and co-owner\/entrepreneur Gene Haas said in a statement the decision was neither easy nor made quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacing is a labor-intensive, humbling sport,\u201d the partners said. \u201cIt requires unwavering commitment and vast resources, with a 365-day mindset to be better than everyone else. It\u2019s part of what makes success so rewarding.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the commitment needed to extract maximum performance while providing sustainability is incredibly demanding, and we\u2019ve reached a point in our respective personal and business lives where it\u2019s time to pass the torch.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud of all the wins and championships we\u2019ve earned since joining together in 2009, but even more special is the culture we built and the friendships we forged as we committed to a common cause _ winning races and collecting trophies. That is the same commitment we made to our personnel, our partners and our fans coming into this year, and that commitment will remain through the season-finale at Phoenix.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tremendous respect and appreciation for all of our employees, and we will work diligently to assist them during this transition to find new opportunities beyond the 2024 race season.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s four-car Cup roster fields the Nos. 4, 10, 14 and 41 Ford Mustangs for drivers Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece, respectively. Two Xfinity Series teams also carry the SHR banner with Cole Custer and Riley Herbst.<\/p>\n

The team reportedly was set to lose some of its support from OEM Ford at season\u2019s end, although Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, told The Associated Press last week he had no idea what SHR was planning beyond this year.<\/p>\n

SHR lost major sponsorship this season when Smithfield Foods exited NASCAR and Anheuser-Busch moved to rival Trackhouse Racing.<\/p>\n

As the owner of fledgling Tony Stewart Racing, Stewart is deeply involved in the National Hot Rod Association. Stewart, 53, is in his first full season driving a nitromethane-powered Top Fuel car _ a ride previously assigned to his wife, Leah Pruett. TSR also fields a nitro Funny Car for four-time\/reigning NHRA world champion Matt Hagan.<\/p>\n

Like Stewart, Haas has become an absentee owner in NASCAR. Haas\u2019 primary focus is Haas F1, a two-car team competing in the FIA\u2019s Formula One World Championship. Haas, 71, also was ill for much of last year. Part of Haas\u2019 F1 team is run from the Kannapolis shop. It is unclear if that arrangement will continue or if Haas has plans to also depart F1 and its demanding, globe-trotting grind.<\/p>\n

Also to be determined is the fate of the four NASCAR charters SHR holds, guaranteeing entry into the starting field every race weekend. Last year Spire Motorsports purchased a charter for $40-million, but actual charter values fluctuate annually.<\/p>\n

Haas has fielded Cup Series entries each season since 2002, originally under the banner of Haas CNC Racing. Stewart had won Cup championships with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2003 and 2005 before opting in 2008 to take an equity stake and opportunity to help Haas\u2019 small, struggling team contend for wins and championships.<\/p>\n

During its inaugural season in 2009, SHR fielded a two-car lineup featuring Stewart _ aka \u201cSmoke Johnson\u201d _ and 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, along with a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports and General Motors.<\/p>\n

Stewart scored the organization\u2019s first victory in the non-points 2009 NASCAR All-Star Race, then went to Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway to post the team\u2019s first points-paying victory three weeks later. Stewart ultimately scored four wins in the team\u2019s inaugural season in the No. 14 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

Success continued in 2011, when Stewart and crew chief Darian Grubb won a staggering five of 10 races in the NASCAR Playoffs _ including the season-finale _ to claim Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s first Cup Series championship. Stewart edged Roush Fenway Racing\u2019s Carl Edwards, a Class of 2025 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, for the title in a rare tiebreaker.<\/p>\n

Stewart-Haas Racing expanded to a three-car operation for the 2013 season with former INDYCAR headliner Danica Patrick in the No. 10 car before adding a fourth car in 2014. Kevin Harvick moved from Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, N.C., to SHR\u2019s re-numbered No. 4 car with crew chief Rodney Childers, and 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch, who slotted into the team\u2019s new No. 41 car.<\/p>\n

In their first year together, Harvick and Childers collaborated on a five-win campaign that resulted in a Cup championship. The pairing lasted a decade, culminating in 37 of \u201cHappy\u201d Harvick\u2019s 60 career victories before his retirement after the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

Busch added a milestone win to his resume _ as well as Stewart\u2019s _ by winning the 2017 Daytona 500 with crew chief Tony Gibson calling strategy. Stewart never won the \u201cGreat American Race\u201d as a driver but celebrated the victory as a team co-owner during his first season following his retirement from Cup in 2016.<\/p>\n

Additional drivers during SHR\u2019s Cup tenure included Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Daniel Su\u00e1rez and Cole Custer.<\/p>\n

Stewart-Haas hasn\u2019t won at the Cup level since August 2022, when Harvick scored consecutive victories at Michigan International Speedway and Richmond Raceway. Overall, the company has earned 69 wins, 339 top-fives and 695 top-10s through last Sunday\u2019s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.<\/p>\n

The team expanded in 2017 to the Xfinity Series, where SHR has accumulated 22 wins, 104 top-fives and 181 top-10s in a combined 294 starts through last weekend\u2019s race at CMS. Custer, who drives SHR\u2019s No. 00 Ford, won the Xfinity Series championship in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Stewart Haas-Racing is planning a NASCAR-style estate sale. SHR, the Kannapolis, N.C.-based organization fronted by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, shocked the motorsports community earlier this week by confirming plans to shutter its Ford-backed NASCAR operation at the end of the 2024 season. A three-time Cup Series champion, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":46440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[933,16,183,68],"class_list":["post-46435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-gene-haas","tag-nascar","tag-stewart-haas-racing","tag-tony-stewart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-1203288479-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1704&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-c4X","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46435"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46443,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46435\/revisions\/46443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}